The present invention relates to a convertible vehicle comprising a roof that can open and close.
A convertible vehicle comprising a roof made of hard material which is movable between a use position at which such roof covers the upper part of the vehicle interior and a non-use position at which such roof is accommodated in a housing unit at the rear section of a vehicle body so that the upper portion of the vehicle body is open is well known. See Laid-open Japanese Patent Applications S62-120218 and H8-175187.
Conventionally, however, an automobile with a long roof in the lengthwise direction of the body, such as a station wagon, could not be constituted so as to be a convertible vehicle as described above. Because of limitations with respect to the length in the vehicle lengthwise direction of a housing unit for accommodating a roof when in the non-use position, it was not possible to constitute a vehicle body so that a long roof could be accommodated within a housing unit. Therefore, conventionally, only a vehicle with a short roof could constitute a convertible vehicle, and a variety of demands from the market could not be met.